VQ Madison Ride #3: Duck Farts & Intensity Factors

I did some heavy training this weekend, riding hills on the Madison course & catching up with tri-friends outside of my Wellfit training group.

Duck Farts:

Sound-only farts, apparently not uncommon in IM triathlons. I experienced this on my long run on Sunday, where I was needing to fart every few minutes. I ended up singing to myself with the Duck Tales theme song (“Woo woo”) when going. Clearly I wouldn’t have done this if I’d been out on a more popular running path like the lakefront trail in Chicago.

I did some research after the fact, and it’s due to the same types of reasons you might get gas otherwise. Dairy, changed flora in your gut. I’m starting to follow some of my pre-race things from before (drink Kombucha, reduce dairy) to help reduce this from occurring.

Intensity Factor: This is a metric in bicycling power that refers to your % of FTP max that you are using. Put simply, your average power for the ride, over your maximum potential.

I’m still wokring on managing my power effectively. I am regularly riding higher than I’m supposed to, and while I can do this on a 4 hour ride, or even a 7 hour ride, it’s not smart when you have a marathon to run afterward.

Confucian Thought of the Day: How does one ride easy when you’re going up a hill? 🙂